DADU, Jan 8: DCO Alamuddin Bullo has said that about 1,200 cases of Leishmaniasis have been reported from government hospitals in the district during the recent outbreak of the skin disease , and that the district administration is cooperating with the medical staff of affected areas to help check the epidemic.

He was speaking at a gathering of doctors, representatives of various NGOs, social workers, officials of various departments and nazims at the basic health unit, Tando Rahim, in Kachho, on Saturday.

Keeping in view the shortage of medicines, the DCO directed the EDO (finance) to release Rs500,000 to the health department immediately for purchase of injections/medicines that treat the disease.

EDO (health) Dr Dhani Bux Thebo said that 1,200 patients were registered in Khairpur Nathan Shah, Sehwan, Johi, Mehar, Faridabad, Wahi Pandhi, and Tando Rahim talukas as well as the Dadu civil hospital, and added that the health department was registering the names of new patients at hospitals nearest them.

He said that the department was facing difficulties in sending medical teams to the affected areas because the district constituted two regions and the department was short of officials.

He appealed to patients to report at the nearest government hospital instead of visiting private hospitals because the department could provide them with the required medication.

Dr Thebo assured patients as well as nazims that medical teams would be sent on foot, motorcycles, camels or donkeys, as required, to far-flung and isolated areas.

The DCO also paid visits to hospitals in Wahi Pandhi, Fazl Jamali, Sawro and Johi.

ACCIDENT: Two persons, Sajjad alias Karo Shaikh and Ayub, son of Asghar Mughal, were killed when the motorcycle they were riding on hit a bridge on the Johi-Wahi Pandhi road late on Friday night.